


Observation

by mnemosyne23



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: F/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 10:57:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17344046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mnemosyne23/pseuds/mnemosyne23
Summary: Malcolm and Hoshi are captured by a group of aliens who demand they have sex while the aliens watch.  Pure PWP.





	Observation

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this stupidly fast because I really wanted to write some R/S smut, but I didn't want to agonize over it and let it slip away. It's not my best, but it's been forever since I wrote Reed/Hoshi, and my darlings needed a sexy romp. Please enjoy!

Reed's head throbbed. _What the hell did I drink last night?_ he wondered, pressing the heel of his hand to his closed eyes.

A soft cough near his shoulder let him know he wasn't alone. "Oh, God," an equally soft voice whimpered. "My brain... is hitting... my eyeballs."

 _Hoshi._ Malcolmn forced his eyes open, squinting against the bright light that surrounded him. "Ensign?" he croaked, trying to push himself into a sitting position.

"Lieutenant?" A dark smudge against the bright light coalesced into the recumbent form of Hoshi Sato. She was struggling to sit up as well, one hand covering her eyes, her dark hair falling in a curtain around her face to further blot out the light. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Malcolm admitted, pulling himself toward her. The pain in his head had settled into a steady, rhythmic throb that coincided with his heartbeat. Ignoring it for the time being, he focused his attention on his crewmate. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I drank my way through all the bars in San Francisco last night," she groaned. "Twice."

Malcolm chuckled. "Trust me, if that were the case you'd be in much worse shape." He ducked his head to try and look into her face. "Let me see your eyes, Ensign."

Unwillingly she moved her hand away from her eyes, squinting against the bright white light. "Where are we, Lieutenant? Last I remember we were on Shuttlepod One, coming back from Jupiter Station, and then..."

Her pupils were unnaturally large, which Reed assumed was the same in his case. That explained the blinding nature of the light. "I don't remember much more than that myself, Ensign," he admitted. "Clearly we didn't make it back to Enterprise." She didn't seem otherwise harmed, though without a medical scanner it was hard to be sure. He laid a hand on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "You're all right, Ensign. Whatever they used to knock us out just gave us a bit of a turn, that's all."

"God, this is miserable," Hoshi moaned, shielding her eyes again. "Where are we?"

Reed took the opportunity to look around. There wasn't much to see. Four white walls, a white ceiling, and a white floor. Thankfully the latter was cushioned, which made lying on it a little more pleasant than it otherwise could have been. There was no furniture, no windows, and, from what he could see, no door.

"We appear to be in a large white box," he said. "Other than that, there's not much I can tell you."

Hoshi peeked out between her fingers, looking around in confusion. "Where's the door?"

"I have no idea." Malcolm stood up, and quickly sat down again. "Oh... dear."

Between the blinding light and the pounding headache he hadn't noticed, but it was suddenly abundantly clear that neither he nor Hoshi were in their Starfleet uniforms. Hoshi at least seemed to be wearing some kind of silky robe, but Malcolm was stripped down to his skivvies. It shouldn't have been so embarrassing - they'd shared the Decon chamber plenty of times together, after all - but there was something about the too-bright light and the pristine white of their surroundings that made Malcolm feel miserably self conscious.

Hoshi, too, appeared to have noticed their lack of normal attire. "Where are our uniforms?" she asked, clearly not expecting an answer. "What the hell is going on?"

Before Reed could even try to answer, a voice interrupted them. "Good mid-day, Terran creatures!"

Hoshi scooted closer to Malcolm as they both stared at the ceiling, trying to find the source of the voice. It was high-pitched and squeaky, and reminded Malcolm unpleasantly of a cartoon canary. "Who are you?" Reed demanded. "Why have you brought us here? I am Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, of the starship Enterprise. You are holding us against our will in direct violation of-"

"You are guests of the Currien," the voice cheeped. Reed realized he was hearing two voices at the same time; the words in English and also, in the background, the chittering, incomprehensible sound of the aliens' native language. It was an oddly sibilant combination. "You will please us! "

He shared a look with Hoshi. _Please them? That sounds ominous._ "I say again, I am Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, Chief Tactical Officer of the Starship Enterprise," he repeated. "I demand that Ensign Sato and I be returned to our ship."

"You will please us," the voice repeated, followed by more chittering. Clearly more than one creature was being broadcast over the speaker.

"Please, the Lieutenant and I are confused," Hoshi cut in, before Malcolm could fly off the handle. "We don't understand what you wish for us to do." The newfound anxiety had cleared Malcolm's head and apparently had done the same for Hoshi, since she was no longer hiding behind her hair. She stood up and addressed herself to a corner of the room; Malcolm assumed that was where the voice was coming from, trusting Hoshi's hearing to have narrowed it down to the specific corner. "How are we supposed to please you?"

Further chittering. "Mate!"

Reed couldn't see Hoshi's face, but from her stunned silence he assumed she wore the same gobsmacked expression as he did. "...Excuse me?" she finally managed to choke out.

"Mate! Fornicate! Make love! Have sex!"

"Abso-bloody-lutely not!" Malcolm sputtered, finally recovering his voice and launching to his feet. "That is... depraved! Ensign Sato and I are not some... trashy holonovel, here to satisfy your prurient interests! I DEMAND you return us to our-AHHHHH!"

Searing, blinding pain. Electricity flowed down his spine, furling outwards to every nerve ending. The world exploded into a series of white and black dots in front of Reed's eyes, and he was just conscious of Hoshi's cry of alarm before he pitched forward, seizing violently.

"STOP IT!" he was vaguely aware of her screaming at the unseen voices. "YOU'RE KILLING HIM!"

The electricity stopped flowing, but Malcolm couldn't stop the twitching in his limbs. His body was still jerking uncontrollably, but at least he didn't think he was going to bite through his own tongue anymore.

Hoshi dropped to her knees beside him. "Lieutenant!" she exclaimed, turning him onto his back and running her hands over his face and shoulders as he continued to twitch violently. "Lieutenant, can you hear me? Malcolm!"

"I... hear you... Ensign," he forced out through clenched teeth.

Her shoulders sagged with relief.

"Please us!" The voice was the same tone as before, as though these Currien hadn't turned him into a human lightning rod just moments ago. "Please us, or there will be more lightning!"

Hoshi helped ease him into a sitting position, her worried gaze never leaving his face. "Lieutenant, I don't know what to do," she said softly as she helped him lean against the wall.

Malcolm cast his eyes around the room, keeping the rest of his body immobile as the tremors began to subside. No door, no windows, not even a ventilation duct; just a single long vent along the edge of the ceiling that spilled cool, fresh air into the room. He realized with a start of humorous surprise that it smelled like a rainy spring day in the Sierras, and wondered if that was because they were on an arboreal planet or if these Currien had somehow deduced from his brain chemistry the perfect aroma to heighten his libido.

He looked back at Hoshi. She was watching him with expectant eyes. He was her superior officer, the head of security, but more importantly, he was the man who always had a plan. She trusted him to get her out of this place.

_I'm sorry, luv._

He raised his head and fixed his hard blue gaze on the corner of the room again. "Go to Hell," he growled.

The pain ripped through him again, and he welcomed it this time. It was easier to take the pain than it was to admit how badly he wanted to take Hoshi.

 

********

 

"NO! STOP IT!"

Malcolm's body was seizing violently against the wall, his eyes rolled so far back in his head all Hoshi could see were the whites. Purple lightning skimmed over his teeth and crackled up and down his body, the proximity so close she could feel it raise the hair on her arms.

"STOP! PLEASE!" she screamed, whirling around and crawling to the middle of the room. "We'll do it! We'll please you! Just, please, stop hurting him!" Throwing herself forward, she pressed her forehead to floor. "Please!"

The sound of electricity cut off, and Hoshi squeezed her eyes shut, breathing a prayer of gratitude, before she drew herself up until she was kneeling.

"Thank you," she said, quickly wiping stray tears from her cheeks.

"The male does not want to please us." The voice sounded petulant now.

"He doesn't understand, that's all," Hoshi soothed, not wanting to arouse their ire any further. "I'll explain to him. Everything will be all right. We want to please you."

"...very well."

Suddenly, the wall behind Hoshi flashed, then went dark. She gasped and scrambled away to sit next to Malcolm, pulling him into her lap.

It wasn't a wall. It was a window. Or... a screen. She was reminded of a two-way mirror, and the sensation was buoyed by the fact that she could see figures moving on the other side of the translucent partition. Their forms were obscured by shadows and low lighting, in direct contrast to the ubiquitous white light that erased all edges inside the padded white cell. Hoshi shivered as the light from their room illuminated faceted eyes; dozens more than there should be in such a relatively small space as the room beyond the cell. She wondered how many eyes each Currien had.

"Please us!" the voice repeated, and there was a sense of... excited undulation from the room on the other side of the partition. The image made Hoshi's stomach churn. _It's a good thing Trip isn't here,_ she thought, realizing her thoughts were a little hysterical. _He hates bugs._

__In her lap she felt Reed shift. "Ensign?" he croaked._ _

She turned her attention away from the creatures watching from the other room and focused on the dazed man cradled against her. "It's okay, Lieutenant," she murmured, stroking his hair back from his forehead. "It's okay. This is okay. I promise."

He squinted up at her, his expression confused. "I don't... Hoshi, you don't have to..."

"Shh..." She laid a finger over his lips. "It's nothing important. It's okay."

Steeling herself, she leaned forward and replaced her finger with her lips.

 

*********

 

The touch was electric, but there was no pain like with the Currien's punishment. Instead, all Malcolm felt was a delightful frission that moved in a wave from his toes to the crown of his head, before retreating to a constant, subdermal static around his groin. Hoshi's mouth tasted like berry lip gloss and Starfleet-issue mouthwash, and he found himself raising a hand to cup her cheek in an effort to prevent her from pulling away.

A sudden burst of excited chittering distracted him and the kiss broke apart as both he and Hoshi tilted their heads to see their crowd of onlookers roiling excitedly in the observation room. The motions were thoroughly inhuman and vaguely grotesque, and Malcolm was glad he couldn't make out any individual aliens.

"More! More! More pleasure!" a chorus of voices sounded through the intercomm system.

Reed struggled up until he could kneel in front of her. "Ensign," he murmured, resting his hands on her upper arms and gazing into her luminous eyes. "You don't need to do this. I would never force you to-"

"Shut up, Lieutenant," Sato interrupted, draping her arms over his shoulders. "I'm not going to sit here and let you die because of some silly notion of propriety." Her gaze swept up and down his naked torso before settling back on his face, and he was a little surprised to find a twinkle in her eyes. "Have you ever wondered what it would be like with an audience?"

He blinked, a little taken aback, but couldn't deny the jolt of arousal that accompanied her words. "I...might have..."

She smiled, and sultry Hoshi was for the moment replaced with familiar, gentle Hoshi. "Then relax and let's learn something together," she murmured, her fingers teasing the nape of his neck. "It's okay, Lieutenant. I promise it's okay."

Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to his ear. "I promise I'll still respect you in the morning,"

Malcolm moaned. Her voice was like a hook, drawing up the darkest impulses from the deepest parts of his psyche. She smelled like jasmine, and it mingled with the rainforest scent of the air until he couldn't distinguish between the two.

Her neck was right there, a column of dusky milk, and he took the opportunity to press his lips to the curve where it met her shoulder. A shiver rippled down her back and she shifted closer to him.

"More," she breathed, tilting her head to the side and letting her hair fall away to reveal more of her neck.

Far be it from him to deny a lady's request. Gathering her into his arms, he pressed his lips back to the side of her neck, dropping slow, infuriatingly soft kisses from behind her ear to the swell of her collarbone. "God, you tease," Hoshi whimpered in response.

"You want more, luv?" he murmured, biting at her earlobe.

"Mmmm..."

"You'll have to give me more than that." He grinned at her frustrated growl, then choked when her blunt nails dragged over his flat nipple.

"I want more," she murmured. "Give it to me."

Malcolm's eyes flared as he pulled back to catch her gaze. Her pupils were dilated again, but this time from ardour rather than some foreign anesthetic. She looked ready to eat him alive.

He grinned. "Aye, luv. As you wish."

Then he pushed her onto her back and pounced.

 

*****

 

"Ah, YES," Hoshi gasped, winding her arms around his neck and holding on for dear life as Malcolm buried his face in her throat, sucking at the tender flesh along the ridge of her collarbone. His hands fumbled with the tie of her robe, finally spreading it open and letting his fingers play along the waistband of her Starfleet issue briefs.

 _It's got to be something in the air_ , a rational part of Hoshi's brain insisted. _You don't like it like this. You like romance and candles and flowers and..._

Hoshi told the rational part of her brain to stuff it, because this was GLORIOUS.

"Oh God!" she cried as his nimble fingers delved down the front of her panties, spreading her and easily finding the little nubbin of pleasure that was already starting to throb. "Oh... Oh GOD...!"

"It's Malcolm, actually," he purred, before capturing her mouth again, eagerly swallowing her moans.

Hoshi furrowed her fingers into his hair, clinging to him as her hips rocked frantically against his hand. He tasted so GOOD. Had he always tasted so delectable? The favorite flavors of Hoshi Sato now consisted of chocolate, peppermint, and Malcolm motherfucking Reed. It was impossible to describe, but her senses kept telling her he tasted like seaspray felt, or how hammered metal sounded when struck on the forge. There was nothing comparable in the history of mankind. Maybe some alien dish on some heretofore undiscovered planet could hold a candle to it, but she wasn't going to hold her breath.

He must have sensed her mind was wandering because he chose that moment to press two long, slender fingers into her sheath, pressing his thumb against her clitoris to keep up the pressure.

"L...LIEUTENANT...!" she gasped, throwing her head back and raking her fingers down his back, luxuriating in the play of muscles over his shoulder blades.

"You're beautiful," Reed groaned, kissing frantically down her body. "Hoshi, luv, you're so damn beautiful."

"Wh...where... are you going?" she panted, forcing her eyes open to watch his progress south.

"I want to watch."

Before she could ask what he meant Malcolm wrapped his free hand in her panties and yanked. The fabric tore easily along the stitches of her opposite hip, but the waistband stayed connected. With a growl the Lieutenant leaned forward and caught the elasticated waist in his teeth, ripping through the elastic like a cannoneer through a fuse.

The fabric parted and fell open, and Hoshi gasped as the cool air of the room washed over her exposed vulva. Malcolm's answering moan was desperate. "Spread your legs, Ensign," he instructed, lifting her knee with his free hand and pushing her leg outward to demonstrate.

Hoshi did as he asked, feeling deliciously exposed and unbelievably sexy. Her hands slid down over her belly to hook between her thighs, holding her legs apart as his fingers pumped into her. "Feels... so good..." she moaned, trying to focus on his face through heavy lashes.

"I'll make you feel so much better soon," he promised, his eyes fixed greedily between her legs. "First this, luv. Let me see. I want to see you fall apart." To help her along, he forced a third finger into her tight, hot passage.

Hoshi's back arched and she tried to push her feet even further apart, raising her hips. "Oh... Oh God.... oh please....!"

"I can feel you, Hoshi. You're so close. Christ, luv, you're squeezing my fingers so hard. How much harder can you go?"

She shook her head, past words for now. _I can't... I can't... I need... please..._

He pressed his blunt thumbnail into her swollen clitoris and the world exploded.

"Ahhh, there you go," Malcolm hissed as she shook with her release. "Yes, luv... Like that..."

There was no air. She couldn't breathe. Snowflakes settled and melted on her skin, making her shiver with cold while liquid heat sluiced through her veins. She had never had an orgasm that intense. To her surprise she realized tears were streaming from the corners of her eyes, tickling her ears and soaking her temples.

  
"Oh God... Lieutenant, that... Oh God..." she hiccupped, raising her hands to try and clear her streaming eyes.

He smiled up at her, framed between her knees, his blue eyes black with arousal. "Beautiful," he murmured, leaning to the side to press a kiss to her inner knee. "Bloody gorgeous, Hoshi."

 

*******

 

Malcolm was hard as a rock.

Watching Hoshi's wet, pink pussy pulse around his fingers, pulling them deeper through her orgasm, was the single most erotic thing he'd ever experienced. He could still feel the aftershocks clutching at his fingers. He was three knuckles deep inside her and wanted to go deeper.

Hoshi was trembling, partially from the aftereffects of her orgasm, partially from the chill air of the room against her sweat-slicked skin. Her hands were over her eyes, and he realized she was crying, her belly fluttering with each shaky breath.

HIs face creased with concern, momentarily pushing aside his lust. "Hoshi?" he murmured, resting a hand on her stomach.

She pulled her hands away from her face and he saw that she was smiling despite her tears. "You don't ever get to tell anyone you gave me an orgasm so good it made me cry, okay?" she half spoke, half laughed. "I can't even believe this."

Malcolm's worry melted away and he laughed softly. "Whatever you say, Ensign."

"Hoshi."

"Hmm?"

"I like it when you call me Hoshi, rather than Ensign." One hand drifted down to rest tenderly atop his on her stomach and her smile turned gentle.

Reed nodded. "Of course. Hoshi."

They sat like that for a minute, gazing into each other's eyes. Malcolm felt no great inclination to move. She was warm and inviting and he didn't want to do anything to shatter this strange new regard they'd developed.

Hoshi eventually broke the silence. "Um... Lieutenant?"

"Malcolm, please."

"Oh, right." She blushed. "Um, do you want to...?" She wiggled her hips, biting her lip as his fingers shifted around in their position still buried inside her.

"Eh? OH! Oh, good Lord, I'm sorry, Hoshi." He winced as he slowly withdrew his fingers, her complaining whimper shooting straight to his groin and adding a solid inch to his erection, he was sure.

"I hate that," she moaned, her hips thrusting feebly. "So empty... Dammit..."

She couldn't possibly know what her movements were doing to him. The remnants of her panties still looped around one leg, and she still wore her sport-style bra, in stark contrast to her swollen, pink sex. She looked thoroughly debauched, and the soft little whimpers seeping past her lips were giving him tunnel vision.

"More! More pleasure!"

Malcolm's heart stuttered in surprise as he was reminded of their strange alien audience. A glance to the side showed that the number of glittering, multifaceted eyes in the observation room had increased in number. They must have been standing -- _Swarming_ , he corrected mentally - on top of each other, because the amorphous blob of shadow that distinguished the living observers from the rest of the dark room was now twice as high as it had been to start. It undulated like an oily tide, and he wondered how many legs the average Currien possessed.

Fingers in the waistband of his boxer briefs brought his attention back to Hoshi. She'd rolled onto her knees in front of him, and had both hands in his skivvies. "My turn," she purred, and tore them apart down the seam along his left leg.

"Hoshi!" he just had time to gulp before she'd dipped down to wrap her lips around the head of his cock.

This was heaven. It was the only explanation for the warmth that was spreading through Malcolm's body like honey. "Oh... God, luv...," he choked, fisting his hand in her silky black hair as she moved her mouth expertly up and down his swollen member. He felt a momentary stab of inexplicable jealousy as he wondered with which lucky men she'd perfected the art of the blow job, but quickly stamped it down again when her fingers teased the patch of skin behind his scrotum. "Oh Christ...!"

Her round bottom was high in the air, wiggling a little in delight as she pulled a steady stream of lusty profanity past his lips. Her back was a perfect curve, and he took the opportunity to drag his wet fingers down her spine. The air smelled like sex and jasmine. He wanted to taste her.

With superhuman willpower he reached down and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her off his dick.

"Malcolm, wha-?" Hoshi started to ask, but was cut off when he hooked his fingers into her bra and lifted it up, freeing her breasts. He lunged, pulling one taut nipple into his mouth while his hands cupped her buttocks, pulling her towards him until she was in his lap, her knees hugging his hips. His erection rubbed along her like a violin bow, and she groaned.

"The things I want to do to you," he growled around her nipple as she shucked her bra completely. "They're obscene."

"Thank God," Hoshi panted, pulling him back to her breast and pressing her face into his hair. "I've never really liked vanilla."

Malcolm groaned eagerly in response, sucking harder on the nipple in his mouth as his hand came up to squeeze the opposite breast. Down below, his free hand teased along the tops of her thighs, just beneath the swell of her bottom, and he wondered if she'd be up for going THAT route. _What was it about the Royal Navy, my boy? Rum, sodomy, and the lash?_ But no. He had far sweeter depths to plumb this time around.

 

(It didn't escape his notice that he was envisioning FUTURE times, too).

 _It must be something in the air,_ he thought absently, moving from one breast to the other, trying to take as much in his mouth as he could. _Pheromones or something. I'd never do something like that with Hoshi. She's Hoshi._

He pulled away from her breast as she pawed at his shoulders. "Turn around," he gasped, biting at her throat, so pale and inviting. "Hands and knees."

She all but fell out of his lap, scrambling up on all fours and gazing back over her shoulder through the liquid fall of her hair. "What now?" she panted, hungry.

Malcolm grinned and tore off the remainder of his boxer briefs before falling forward, drunk on lust, his lips grazing over the back of her thigh. He nipped his way upwards, pausing to worship her buttocks for a moment before moving down and spreading her labia ahead of his tongue.

"Ahhh...!" Hoshi cried, pressing back, forcing his tongue deeper. "Malcolm... Yes, oh God... Yes yes yes...!"

She was slightly bitter and slightly sweet. He could taste her desperation and it made his balls contract painfully. He wanted so badly to plunge into her and let go, filling her to the brim. The way he felt right now, he was pretty sure he was going to let loose with enough semen to round her flat belly into a luscious curve. The thought alone almost made him cum.

"Dammit... Malcolm, I... need more...!" Hoshi's voice was an echo at the edges of his hearing, dragging him back to reality. "Please, Malcolm...!"

He pulled away and dropped hot, wet kisses up her spine as he draped himself over her back. "So do I," he rasped, and plunged into her.

******

Hoshi wasn't a virgin. She hadn't been a virgin for a long time. She'd had her share of lovers, some of them long-term, and some of them still made her toes curl when she thought about how they moved together between the sheets. She liked sex, and she liked men who liked sex.

This was something altogether different. It wasn't just sex; it was so much more PRIMAL than that. Malcolm's hands were in her hair and his hips were flush with her backside, and she felt every glorious, searing inch of him buried inside her.

"Oh my God, this is..." She trailed off into a moan as one of his hands drifted down to rest on her belly, pulling her up so that his stomach was pressed along her spine.

"Hoshi," Malcolm breathed into her hair. His lips trailed over her shoulder, before tucking into the hollow behind her ear. "You're so deep, luv." As if to demonstrate, he pressed his hips further forward.

Hoshi shuddered with pleasure. "How do you do that?" she whimpered, reaching back with one hand to squeeze the back of his neck. "How do you make me melt and set me on fire at the same time?"

He pressed his nose against her cheek, nipping at her jaw until she tilted her head enough for him to capture her lips with a kiss. "I could ask you the same."

She laughed, then moaned, rubbing her back against him like a cat. "This feels so GOOD. Why didn't we do this sooner?"

Malcolm didn't answer, nibbling across her shoulders. He started to move, very, very slowly rolling his hips into her. Hoshi curled her fingers against the soft padded floor, squeezing her eyes shut and letting the sensations spread from her loins to the tips of her toes and the end of her nose. He was being almost painfully gentle.

"You don't have to hold back," she breathed, rolling her shoulders. "I won't break, Malcolm."

"I want this to last," he rasped, pressing his face into her hair.

"I'm not going anywhere, Malcolm." She grasped the hand he rested on her stomach. "We have time."

Hoshi felt his muscles bunch as he started to move faster. "Yes," she moaned, urging him on. "Yes, Malcolm, like that."

A minute later he reared up on his knees and gripped her hips tightly as he started pistoning into her. "Hoshi, this.... Oh God..."

Hoshi threw back her head and cried out as each thrust hit a spot inside of her that sent a brilliant bloom of pleasure through every nerve ending in her body. Her breasts slapped together, the sound blending with the impact of his hips against her backside. "Yes... Yes yes yes... Malcolm, harder... Harder, HARD-AHHHHH...!"

The orgasm was expected this time, but no less powerful. Hoshi threw a hand back, blindly grabbing for any part of him that she could reach. She found his hand and laced their fingers, holding on for dear life.

**********

The force of his orgasm took Malcolm by surprise. He'd expected it to be strong, but he hadn't expected it to be blinding. Hoshi's inner walls clenched around him, milking him dry. It was a sensation unlike any other and he relished every moment of it, filing it away for lonely nights in his bunk after long shifts in the Armoury.

Hoshi's grip on his hand faltered and he was just in time to catch her before she collapsed. He held her against his chest as he eased them both down to the plush floor. "Hoshi? Luv, are you all right?" he panted by her ear, rubbing her stomach as he spooned behind her.

She shivered in his arms for a few moments before looking over her shoulder, her eyes bright with fresh tears. "You did it again," she said, smiling shyly as her hand reached up to cup his cheek and she blinked away the tears. "That's not fair."

Malcolm gently turned her in his arms, hissing softly as he slipped out of her slick body. "I apologize," he murmured huskily, hugging her against his chest and tucking her head under his chin. "I promise I shan't do it again."

"Bite your tongue, Lieutenant."

He laughed, stroking her hair and pressing a kiss to her forehead. The sweat was already cooling on their bodies, so he gathered her closer to keep her warm.

"More! More pleasure!"

Malcolm and Hoshi shared a groan. "Not now," she groaned, burrowing deeper into Malcolm's chest. "I can't handle it."

"Humans need to take a breather," Malcolm said, resting his cheek on Hoshi's hair and addressing his words to the seething mass of insectoid lifeforms on the other side of the transparent partition. "Go amuse yourselves elsewhere for a while."

"More pleasure! More!"

"Later," Malcolm reiterated, his eye closing. Hoshi was already dozing in his arms, wrung out and limp. Malcolm felt utterly knackered, and his limbs ached from their earlier electrical stimulation. He could sleep for a hundred years.

He drifted off, counting Hoshi's heartbeats like sheep.

And that was how the Enterprise away team found them two hours later.

 

********

 

"The Currien are an insectoid species," T'Pol explained the next day to the assembled senior staff in Archer's ready room. "They do not sustain themselves on traditional foodstuffs, but rather they absorb the emotional output of other organisms for sustenance."

"Are you saying they... EAT emotion?" Archer asked, his brows furrowed.

"Yes, sir."

"But that don't make a lick o' sense," Trip argued. "You can't just... EAT somethin' that ain't there."

"Trust me, there was a LOT of emotion in that... sex cube," Mayweather said, with a thinly concealed shudder. "You could SMELL it."

"Ensign," Archer chided.

"Sorry, sir."

"On their homeworld of Currier they live in symbiosis with other native species," T'Pol continued, ignoring the outburst from her crewmates. "However, when traveling in deep space, they're dependent on replenishable symbiotes for nourishment. I understand this particular crew's symbiote regenerator malfunctioned. They were literally starving to death."

"So they saw our shuttlepod and thought, 'Soup's on'?" Trip posited.

T'Pol arched an elegant eyebrow. "In as many words, yes."

"But why... like THAT?" Archer asked, deftly avoiding actually saying what he was thinking.

"Sexual intercourse inspires very strong emotions," T'Pol intoned. "Especially among species such as yours. It is the equivalent of laying a full course meal in front of a starving man."

Trip snorted. "Malcolm could probably relate to that." He was thinking of how the Armoury officer's hands had been wrapped so tightly around Hoshi's creamy shoulders and slender waist. _A banquet to a starving man all right._

"The Currien attache to the Vulcan High Command has already expressed their deepest apologies to Starfleet," T'Pol added. "The crew in question will be disciplined and returned to Currier for further sanctions. The individuals responsible for electrocuting the Lieutenant will face criminal action."

"Good. I don't like anyone using my crew as food." Archer stood up and the others followed suit. "I understand Phlox has released both Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Sato from Sickbay. Apparently there were no external chemical or organic compounds present in their system, so we can safely say they weren't drugged or otherwise impaired."

"No pheromones, huh?" Trip shook his head. "Didn't think the guy had it in him without a little liquid courage."

Archer shot him a warning look before turning his attention to his second in command. "T'Pol, please pass along to them the sentiments from the Currien attache." It really should have been him, but no one begrudged the captain wanting to avoid explaining to his Communications and Armoury officers how the insectoid species that had kidnapped them and forced them to perform sexually on pain of death were very sorry.

T'Pol nodded. "Understood, sir."

"And as for the rest of you." Archer leveled a stare at Mayweather and Trip. "This does not become ship's gossip, do you understand me? If you hear it, you nip it in the bud. If it persists, you send the parties involved to me. I will not have my command staff undermined by salacious rumors."

Trip nodded, and Mayweather nodded even more. "Don't have to tell me twice, sir. I'm going to be having nightmares for weeks." He shuddered.

Trip snorted and punched the younger man lightly on the arm. "Didn't like seeing your best friend like that, Mayweather?"

"Actually, I didn't really appreciate seeing that much of the Lieutenant, Commander," Mayweather sighed.

Trip's grin turned into a grimace. "Ya had to remind me, Travis."

"Sorry, sir."

"Knock it off, you two," Archer chatised.

T'Pol raised her brow again. "I felt the Lieutenant was a fine specimen of the human male form."

Archer pinched the bridge of his nose. "T'Pol, not you, too."

"Indeed."

*********

Hoshi's hand hovered uncertainly over the door chime outside of Malcolm's quarters. They'd been back for two days and this was the first time she'd dared to set foot out of her own cabin. She felt like everyone was staring at her, whispering behind her back: _That's the one who had sex with Lieutenant Reed! In front of a bunch of centipede aliens! And she LIKED it!_

With a groan of frustration she brought her hand down on the chime. She wasn't going to be able to look anyone else in the eye until she could at least look HIM in the eye.

There was no answer for a minute, then the doors slid open. Malcolm stood there, blue eyes startled. "Ensign," he said, taking a hasty step back. "I.. I'm sorry, I thought you were Commander Tucker..."

"Why are you apologizing?" she asked. "I came to see you, remember?"

He blushed, which she thought was strangely adorable given the things they'd done together just two days ago. "Right. Right, of course. Um, did... did you want something?"

Hoshi couldn't resist a small smile. "May I come in?"

"Oh, yes! Yes, please do."

She stepped into the small cabin and looked around. It was sparsely decorated, but she found that was what she'd expected. Everything about Malcolm was sparse: his words, his movements, his body fat. You could bounce a quarter off his personality, it was cordoned off so tightly.

"I wanted to apologize," Hoshi said before he could ask again why she'd come.

Malcolm blinked, clearly surprised. "For what?"

"For putting you in the spotlight like this." She sighed and sank down into his desk chair. "I know you're a very... private person. And thanks to me that's been basically shot to hell."

Malcolm frowned and knelt down in front of her to be at eye level. "Ensign, you did nothing wrong," he said softly. "If anything, I am the one who should be apologizing to you. I'm the senior officer. I should have been able to find a way out of there that didn't require..." He trailed off, and she saw shutters fall across his expressive blue eyes. His eyes were the only part of Malcolm Reed that weren't locked away behind a permanent iron curtain of regimental reserve.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you, Ensign Sato," he said quietly. "I hope that you'll forgive me."

Hoshi gazed into his eyes. A small smile curled the corner of her mouth, and she raised a hand to cup his cheek. "I told you I'd still respect you in the morning, Lieutenant," she said, stroking her thumb across his cheekbone. "I meant it. And I think I told you to call me Hoshi."

He leaned instinctively into her touch, and she shivered when he pressed a delicate kiss into her palm.

"Would you... like to have dinner?" he asked, turning his attention back up to her face. "And perhaps... a movie?"

Hoshi's smile widened, and Malcolm's answering smile was just as bright.

"Yes, Lieutenant," she said. "I'd like that very much."

"Please," he said, taking her hand and lacing their fingers. "Call me Malcolm."


End file.
